QUILTS & FABRIC: PAST & PRESENT

Thursday, January 30, 2014

I have pictures of several similar quilts from the end of the 19th century with faded khaki colors.

This one's from Sharon Yenter's collection

but it isn't quite the same pattern.

From the Kirk Collection

probably late-19th century

Here's an older one from dealer John Saul with fancier border and fancier quilting, natural green rather than synthetically dyed khaki, both indicating an earlier date of 1840-1880 . Apparently the feathered star with a circular center and a sunburst goes back to the mid-19th-century.

Very similar design, same time, same colors, less fancy.

From Shelly Zegart's collection.

Twelve spokes on the wheel, two circles framing the center.

This one from Laura Syler's Pinterest page.

It's about impossible to find two the same.

probably mid-19th century

The despair of a quilt pattern indexer.

Kentucky Quilt Project, probably late 19th century

Rosetta Cox Singleton

Iowa Quilt Project

probably mid-19th century

Margaret Webster

Iowa Quilt Project

Hard to date since indigo and white was so popular over so many decades.

In BlockBase and my Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns I drew up two versions.

BlockBase #2270

This may be the earliest published pattern. In 1934 Mrs. Danner's Quilts sold a pattern and gave it two names: Golden Splendor in golds and Star Spangled Banner in red, white and blue.

The surviving quilts show many more variations than have been published as patterns. It seems like the more complex the pattern the more variations you see.

probably mid-19th century

probably mid-19th century

Michigan Quilt Project

probably mid-19th century

Connecticut Quilt Project

probably mid-19th century

Iowa Quilt Project

Sarah Penina Young

Did these two women know each other?

Quilts Inc. Collection

Turkey red star with red work embroidery

After 1880

For the ambitious among you, BlockBase will print out templates for the two listed.

Here are the first 2 pages of an 18" version of #2271---10 pages in all.

You'll find one made from #2270 for the recent Quilt Alliance Twenty Auction at the blog

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Sunday morning I opened my Kansas City Star newspaper to find this lovely quilt block as the first in a new series: “Where Poppies Grow … Remembering Almo,” a block-of-the-month honoring those who served in World War I.

A surprise to find such a graceful combination of piecing and applique and the best surprise that it was designed by my friend Denniele Bohannon.

Where Poppies Grow

by Denniele O'Kell Bohannon

and Janice Britz.

Quilted by Angela Walters

Now, she has been telling me she has some family letters from her great-grandfather and that she has been working on a quilt linked to them---but she didn't tell me much more.

Here's what the Star says:

"This year’s quilt was designed by Denniele O’Kell Bohannon of Louanna Mary Quilt Design, Harrisonville, and Janice Britz of Bee Merry Farms, Peculiar, as a tribute to Bohannon’s great-grandfather Almo Ebenezer O’Kell. Angela Walters of Quilting Is My Therapy in Kearney did the free-motion quilting.

Almo O’Kell, 30, died Jan. 12, 1919, while serving his country in Koblenz, Germany.O’Kell’s correspondence and photos have been preserved by his family and provide a rich history of Almo’s duty as a medic with Field Hospital No. 3 and the First Division under Gen. John J. Pershing, a Missouri native.
Each month, along with a new quilt block, we’ll share a piece of Almo’s story."

You can participate in this Block of the Month from Star Quilts. The pattern will be published on the third Sunday of each month in 2014 in the newspaper. It's also available online.

The Star says each block will be available as a free download for one week at the online home of Kansas City Star Quilts (PickleDish.com). After that, the pattern will be available as a download for $3.95 at Kansas City Star Quilts Store (PickleDishstore.com).

Saturday, January 18, 2014

There have been requests (TWO and that's enough, thank you) for a list of the books I've been reading about Paris in the 1920s, the inspiration for the Modernism collection for Moda.

Zelda's story, a tragedy, raised

many questions about how women are to live their lives.

But oh the glamour!

I can read a book in a couple of days so I go through quite a few--mostly nonfiction and mostly biographies. I am lucky enough to live near a university library where I can check out 20 books at a time for six weeks. Every month or two I check out my limit and I never feel richer than when I have 20 unread books on the shelf.

Dorothy Parker

You Might as Well Live: The Life and Times of

Dorothy Parker by John Keats

1986, raised the same kinds of questions about

women's roles, mood and alcoholism.

Few answers and the down side of glamour.

I have an electronic reader and I do read out-of-copyright books on my laptop too but I like hardback paper books. My method in choosing books on a topic is just as old-fashioned. I use the cataloging system at a library catalog website, which in itself is a web of inter-related publications.

You can browse by the subject category and type in a word or three like Paris Social Life. I identify interesting titles that way and check out my local library holdings, the used book market and the ebooks.

As long as you are going to use a library catalog to identify interesting books it might as well be a good library catalog.
Harvard's is nice.http://lib.harvard.edu/

You can also browse by standard subject headings, defined by the Library of Congress.
For the books on Paris in the 1920s I found many biographies by looking at these subject headings:

I just re-read Charmed circle: Gertrude Stein & company by James R.
Mellow.

Once you find an interesting life you meet more interesting characters. To me the whole thing becomes a soap-opera-style network where characters show up and disappear in one biography and then I find they have spin-off biographies of their own...

Sara and Gerald Murphy with Cole Porter and friend

Like the fascinating Murphys in Everybody Was So Young by Amanda Vaill.

If you are talking about Paris in the 1920s there are some heavyweight male characters like Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway...but I'd rather read about the women--- like Pauline Pfeiffer in Unbelievable happiness and final sorrow: the Hemingway-Pfeiffer
marriage by Ruth A. Hawkins.

Solita Solano and Djuna Barnes

I enjoy sitting in the library stacks to see what books are shelved next to the one I found by call number in the catalog: The impulse purchase, so to speak, which rarely disappoints.

Elsa Schiaparelli

A friend just recommended Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me by Patricia Volk.

If you don't have a great library nearby you can identify the books and buy them online or ask your book store to find them.

Josephine Baker

I also hear there is a new biography of Josephine Baker.

Below is a rather random list of books that came to mind.

Some I liked, some I didn't. Some of the people are charming---others despicable.

But I love to visit the times and even a shallow character in a bumpily written book keeps me entertained.

RANDOM LIST

Robert McAlmon Being geniuses together, 1920-1930. with supplementary chapters by Kay Boyle.

Exiles return; a literary odyssey of the 1920s by Malcom
Cowley

Four lives in Paris by Hugh Ford ;

Genêt, a biography of Janet Flanner by Brenda Wineapple.

Everybody who was anybody : a biography of Gertrude Stein by
Janet Hobhouse.

Sylvia Beach and the lost generation : a history of literary
Paris in the twenties and thirties by
Noel Riley Fitch.

Djuna : the life and work of Djuna Barnes / Phillip Herring

That summer in Paris; memories of tangled friendships with
Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and some others by Morley Callaghan

Man Ray: the rigour of imagination by Arturo Schwarz.

Here are three overviews

Expatriate Paris : a cultural and literary guide to Paris of the 1920s by Arlen J. Hansen.

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DOG-GONE GOOD BOOKS

I've published a lot of books on quilt history and quilt patterns over the years. Below are some links to buy them, mostly eBooks or Print-on-Demand. But first click on the dog to go to my Etsy store to see if I have any printed copies I can autograph and send you.

VISIT MY ETSY STORE

Click to see books and quilts for sale. The books are all print editions from early print runs.

E-Book version of Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.

Click on the book cover to buy a downloadable version.

Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns

The bound volume of this index to 4,000 designs with names is Out of Print. Buy an E-Book version above or buy the digital version BlockBase directly below which will print any pattern any size.

BlockBase

This computer program features over 4,300 patterns. Use it for pattern ideas, pattern I.D. and pattern drafting. Program is for PC's. Click on the box.

Making History: Quilts & Fabric From 1890-1970

A guide to making reproduction quilts, choosing reproduction prints and dating fabrics. Click on the cover to buy it from C&T Publishing.

Borderland in Butternut & Blue

Sampler Quilt to Recall the Civil War Along the Kansas/Missouri Border. A BOM with 14" traditional blocks and lots of history. Click for more:

CLUES IN THE CALICO eBook

Get this classic as an eBook. Easy to find index with a digital search.

America's Printed Fabrics: 1770-1890

How to date antique fabrics and add to your stash of reproduction prints with projects for reproduction quilts. C&T sells new Print-on-Demand editions. Click on the bookcover.

Encyclopedia of Applique

The Encyclopedia of Applique second edition. Click on the bookcover for more information about an eBook or a Print-On-Demand version. Or buy from my stock at my Etsy store above.

Facts and Fabrications

Twenty traditional blocks to "Unravel the History of Quilts and Slavery." Click on the cover to buy an on-demand print edition.

CIVIL WAR SAMPLER: 50 Quilt Blocks

The book based on my Civil War Quilts blog is still in print. Click on the cover to buy a copy from C&T Publishing.

Quilts From the Civil War

Information on the role of quilts in the Civil War. Click on the cover to read more and order a digital version of this out-of-print classic. I have paper copies in my Etsy store above.

Civil War Women

More about quilts and how women used them during the War for fundraising, patriotism and practical bedding. Click on the cover to see more about an e-Book or Print-On-Demand book.

EMPORIA ROSE

Challenging Applique from the heart of quilt country. Click to see more at C&T Publishing.

THE GARDEN QUILT: Interpreting a Masterpiece

More masterpiece applique from Ilyse Moore and me. Click on the cover to read more.

Visit My Spoonflower Shop

I have a few designs available at Spoonflower.com. You can buy yardage of postcard backs, quilt labels (like the one in the photo) and political prints in my Material Culture shop. Click on the label.

BOOK OF THE SAINTS EBOOK

You can buy my Book of the Saints For Quilters as an EBook for IPads for $3.99. Click on the picture to find ordering information for my 30-page collection of photocollages.

Lately Arrived EBook for IPads

A few years ago I did a Blurb book to accompany my Moda repro collection Lately Arrived From London. You can buy this little book with ideas and information on early quilts for $3.99 for your IPad. Click to see

Borderland in Butternut and Blue

A Block of the Month featuring patterns and stories recalling the Civil War in the west. Click on the cover to see more.

Prairie Flower: A Year on the Plains

Block of the month: Original applique patterns recalling the landscape of the westward migration.

Flora Botanica Museum Catalog

Exhibit at the Spencer Museum of Art featuring their spectacular collection. Click to read more.